Tourism is the main driver of the Barbados economy, by itself contributing nearly 15% of the island's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the cumulative value of all the goods and services a country produces.
Provisional Barbados Central Bank figures indicate that in 2007, the sector earned about $172 million out of GDP that was estimated at $1.15 billion. By comparison, manufacturing accounted for about $64 million and agriculture, including sugar, about $50 million.
In 2004 tourism's contribution to the GDP was estimated at 12.4%.
Driving tourism's improving performance is an ever increasing number of visitors to this 166-square-mile island, with nearly 1.2 million coming in 2007.
The number of tourists - long stay visitors - who came in 2007 amounted to 574,533, compared with 616,354 cruise passengers who popped in for a day or less. The increase over the 2006 performance is 14.3% for the cruise sector and 2.1% for the long stays.
The significant improvement in the cruise sector's performance was linked mainly to an expansion in cruise ship capacity, as both the size of vessels and the number of cruise ship calls to the Bridgetown Port increased.
The real value of tourism's contribution to Barbados is in providing foreign exchange, economic activity and employment. For the first quarter of 2006, the Barbados tourism sector was responsible for the employment of 13,000 people.
Thanks mainly to increased traffic from the United Kingdom and some non-traditional markets, real tourism value to Barbados rose by an estimated 3.3% in 2007, compared with the 1.6% growth registered in 2006.
Besides the UK, the other major markets for the Barbados tourist industry are the United States, Continental Europe and Canada.
At the end of November 2007, visitor arrivals from the traditional markets of the UK, Canada and the US had expanded by 6.3%, 7.7% and 2.7%, respectively, despite higher costs for air travel.
The key elements of Barbados' tourism product are its solid historical and cultural legacy, its political stability, varied entertainment and its natural physical attributes.
Accommodation facilities in Barbados include a wide range of hotels, apartments, luxury villas, guest houses, cottages and beach houses.
As of March 2008, the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA), the statutory corporation, principally responsible for development of the sector, was being given a face lift, following the January 15th, 2008 change of government.
Celebrated Barbadian hotelier Ralph Taylor has taken over as BTA chairman. Taylor is chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Almond Resorts Inc. group (with properties in Barbados and St. Lucia) and is also chairman of the Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust.
The BTA works closely with the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) which speaks for the private sector entities directly or indirectly involved in the sector.
The BTA has promotional offices in several parts of the world including North America and Europe and its representatives go all out to attract business from these markets.
The major thrust over the years has always been to attract long stay visitors, but in the last five years great emphasis has been placed on expanding cruise tourism. The result is that Barbados now welcomes more cruise vessels than ever before, with some of them now home-porting in the island.
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